FSP Group AX500-A 500W Power Supply

cozmo_d · Sep 10, 2007

Hi I'm looking to get a new psu for the rig in me sig.

I'm on a budget and have always had good luck with Fortron.

Would the "FSP Group AX500-A" be sufficient ?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817104934&Tpk=Fortron

Im all ears if anyone has a any advice, thx.

This is the processor, oc it in winter

Im curious whether or not I should be looking for a single or duel 12v rails ?

Im limited to around 125$ total shipped and all.

I seen a few modular psu's looked real nice but never heard much of them name of "Hipper"

any word on them?

burebista · Sep 10, 2007

Try BSII but you're fine with Corsair VX450.

cozmo_d · Sep 10, 2007

How about these Hipper folks ?

http://www.xoxide.com/hiper-power-supply-blue.html

looks really shiny are these any good?

cozmo_d · Sep 10, 2007

mmm just seen this corsair modular 520 99$ free ship

how about that?

http://www.buy.com/prod/corsair-520w-sli-certified-modular-atx-power-supply/q/loc/101/203270716.html

RollingThunder · Sep 10, 2007

cozmo_d said:
How about these Hipper folks ?

http://www.xoxide.com/hiper-power-supply-blue.html

looks really shiny are these any good?

Burebista gave you a good choice, you don't need SLI so there is no logic to look at them if you are on a budget.

Here is a review of the Corsair VX450. It's rated first class and inexpensive:

http://www.jonnyguru.com/review_details.php?id=125

If you like modular, the the Corsair HX520 is more than enough:

http://www.jonnyguru.com/review_details.php?id=28

That review is a little dated but they are fine, 5 year warranty and a great choice.

cozmo_d · Sep 10, 2007

Thx RT & BB Thoes Corsairs look very nice.

with modular and the 5 year warranty ( I love warranty's especially 5 year on a psu )

not sure which one ill grab probly the one wth the 3x12v rails for the future. altho that 450 does look realy nice for that price.

thx again for helping me decide

Super Nade · Sep 10, 2007

The FSP's are really disappointing these days. Voltage regulation is all over the place. Although lower wattage models, seem to hold it together, the higher wattage ones are rather mediocre.

RollingThunder · Sep 10, 2007

cozmo_d said:
Thx RT & BB Thoes Corsairs look very nice.

with modular and the 5 year warranty ( I love warranty's especially 5 year on a psu )

not sure which one ill grab probly the one wth the 3x12v rails for the future. altho that 450 does look realy nice for that price.

thx again for helping me decide

Cozmo,

The Corsair HX520 is really a single rail 40 amp. Check that review for clarification.

cozmo_d · Sep 10, 2007

Ya I read through that...

Jonny says...

The "official" word from Corsair is:

* 12V1: ATX 20+4, 4-pin +12V and 8-pin +12V
* 12V2: PCI-e 1 and first two peripheral connectors
* 12V3: PCI-e 2 and last three peripheral connectors

altho if you read on beyond that it seems a lil confusing he settles on the idea that its
2x12v rails but he sounds unsure like he didn't get the pinout/readout from the multimeter he was expecting.

I been looking around and the 5year warranty swayed me, I figure if you have the guts to slap a 5 year warranty on it you must have some faith in it.

The purchase worked out sweet tho got 10$ off for using google checkout for first time at buy.com so 89.99 for a nice psu shipped, altho JonnyG said he couldn't get the OCP to trip that seems odd to me and still unsure whether its 1 40v rail divided between 3 circuits or whats really going on there, I'm not going to rip it apart tho to check it out

gota keep that warranty intact... the duel 12v enermax that died prompting this purchase was a let down it only lasted about 1 year, maybe I was pushing it to hard tho. Altho I did purchase it used from the classies I got my money out of it so no complaints there.

thanks again for the help...

RollingThunder · Sep 10, 2007

cozmo_d said:
Ya I read through that...

Jonny says...

The "official" word from Corsair is:

* 12V1: ATX 20+4, 4-pin +12V and 8-pin +12V
* 12V2: PCI-e 1 and first two peripheral connectors
* 12V3: PCI-e 2 and last three peripheral connectors

altho if you read on beyond that it seems a lil confusing he settles on the idea that its
2x12v rails but he sounds unsure like he didn't get the pinout/readout from the multimeter he was expecting.

I been looking around and the 5year warranty swayed me, I figure if you have the guts to slap a 5 year warranty on it you must have some faith in it.

The purchase worked out sweet tho got 10$ off for using google checkout for first time at buy.com so 89.99 for a nice psu shipped, altho JonnyG said he couldn't get the OCP to trip that seems odd to me and still unsure whether its 1 40v rail divided between 3 circuits or whats really going on there, I'm not going to rip it apart tho to check it out gota keep that warranty intact... the duel 12v enermax that died prompting this purchase was a let down it only lasted about 1 year, maybe I was pushing it to hard tho. Altho I did purchase it used from the classies I got my money out of it so no complaints there.

thanks again for the help...

Cozmo,

For the layman like me that isn't a "sparky," Oklahoma Wolf explained it very nicely to accompany the revue by Jonny. He explained that technically from disassembly and Jonny's testing, it's a single rail. In order to save recertification by UL labs to a single rail along with the time and money that costs, they left the advertising like it is. The larger HX620 is the same except a single 50 amp rail.

cozmo_d · Sep 10, 2007

Welp that figures RT

These lads here say this tho...

Advanced circuitry design that automatically enables power sharing between the triple +12V rails in an event of overload on any single +12V rail.

taken from this review http://www.silentpcreview.com/article692-page1.html

I have limited knowledge on psu myself mainly used to wire um into machinery, I'm no expert by any stretch of the imagination, Ive torn old ones apart and snooped around inside um, and replaced some parts but Im no electrical engineer for sure :beer:

rainless · Sep 10, 2007

Super Nade said:
The FSP's are really disappointing these days. Voltage regulation is all over the place. Although lower wattage models, seem to hold it together, the higher wattage ones are rather mediocre.

I'm forced to disagree. The FSP AX500 is one of the greatest power supplies I've ever owned. I always intended for it to be a temporary power supply that I just bought because I was editing video with someone and needed a replacement immediately. But it has held up remarkably from continent to continent.

And if it can handle what I've got in my sig (and all the HELL that I've put it through), then it would have absolutely NO PROBLEM running the rig in his sig.

(Still... I wouldn't put it over a Corsair 520.)

cozmo_d · Sep 10, 2007

I was looking for some schematics for the pcb layout couldn't find anything tho.

found this maybe help someone else in the future
http://www.corsairmemory.com/_productmanuals/Corsair_PSU_English_Manual.pdf

Oklahoma Wolf · Sep 10, 2007

cozmo_d said:
Advanced circuitry design that automatically enables power sharing between the triple +12V rails in an event of overload on any single +12V rail.

I have two words that better describe this "advanced circuitry." Those two words are "jumper wires." I'm not kidding, the Corsairs are single 12V units in every sense of the word

Super Nade · Sep 10, 2007

rainless said:
I'm forced to disagree. The FSP AX500 is one of the greatest power supplies I've ever owned. I always intended for it to be a temporary power supply that I just bought because I was editing video with someone and needed a replacement immediately. But it has held up remarkably from continent to continent.

And if it can handle what I've got in my sig (and all the HELL that I've put it through), then it would have absolutely NO PROBLEM running the rig in his sig.

(Still... I wouldn't put it over a Corsair 520.)

It's group regulated design really frayed at the seams under a 6600GT SLI. In fact it's big brother the FSP-600GLN did the same. I was stupid to sell the 550W Sparkle and go for the flashier under-performing Bluestorm series. Well, this was in 2005 though.

burebista · Sep 10, 2007

Super Nade said:
The FSP's are really disappointing these days. Voltage regulation is all over the place. Although lower wattage models, seem to hold it together, the higher wattage ones are rather mediocre.

BSII is not based on Epsilon platform so it's a good PSU for money as SKYMTL shows us: good caps, good efficiency, good voltage regulation, good ripple suppression, quiet.

Super Nade · Sep 10, 2007

That's why I said, higher wattage models.

benbaked · Sep 10, 2007

rainless said:
I'm forced to disagree. The FSP AX500 is one of the greatest power supplies I've ever owned. I always intended for it to be a temporary power supply that I just bought because I was editing video with someone and needed a replacement immediately. But it has held up remarkably from continent to continent.

And if it can handle what I've got in my sig (and all the HELL that I've put it through), then it would have absolutely NO PROBLEM running the rig in his sig.

(Still... I wouldn't put it over a Corsair 520.)

I agree, I'm running my sig rig on a two year old Bluestorm and I'm kind of surprised that it can handle both an 8800 and a C2D. If I still had my Pentium D in there, maybe things would be a different story.

Super Nade · Sep 10, 2007

Hmm...perhaps I obtained a dodgy unit(s)? On my unit(s), the regulation was so poor that it jumped all over the place even on a DMM. The 600GLN had 12V overvolting to 12.43 from 12.02. It being group-regulated, the 3.3 and 5V rails dipped. Perhaps I was cross-loading it a bit, 2 HDD's a bunch of fans, DVDRW v/s 6600GT SLI and a fully clocked Venice 3200? I don't know..the load seems fairly well balanced though..

masakabassist · Sep 10, 2007

I have run two FSP units one of which is running the rig in my sig and have no complaints. S-N I think you just got unlucky may be?

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